Aristotle · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| [section 1] Simple colors are those that go along with the elements, for example fire and air and water and earth. Air and water are by nature white in themselves, while fire and the sun are yellow. Earth too is by nature white, but through staining it appears many-colored. [section 2] This is clear in the case of ash: once the moisture that produced the staining has been burned out, it becomes white, though not entirely, because it has been stained by the smoke, which is black. That is also why lye becomes yellow, the flame-colored and black element coloring the water. [section 3] Black color follows the elements as they change into one another. The other colors, easily observed, arise from these by mixture as they blend with one another. Darkness arises when light fails. Black appears to us in three ways. [section 4] Either it is what is by nature altogether not seen (for from all such things some black light is reflected back), or it is what has no light at all traveling from it to the eyes; for what is not seen, when the surrounding place is seen, produces an impression of black. And all such things appear black to us from which light is reflected back sparsely and weakly.
2| [section 5] That is also why shadows appear black. Likewise water too, when it is roughened, as with the ripple of the sea; for because of the roughness of the surface, few of the rays striking it and the light being scattered, the shaded part appears black. And a cloud, when it is strongly dense, appears black for this same reason. [section 6] On the same principle, water and air too, whenever the light does not pass through them completely. For these too seem to be black when they have depth, because the rays are reflected back only very sparsely; for all the intervening portions of light within them seem black on account of the darkness. [section 7] That darkness is not a color but a privation of light is not hard to learn, from many other things and especially from the fact that darkness is not even perceptible as to how large it is and what shape it happens to have, as the other visible things are. [section 8] That light is the color of fire is clear from the fact that no other color than this one is found belonging to it, and from the fact that it alone becomes visible through itself, while the other things become visible through it. But this needs further examination, for some things that are not fire nor forms of fire evidently produce light by their nature.
3| [section 9] Unless, then, the color of fire is light, yet light is not the color of fire alone, but it is possible that this coloring does not belong to fire only, while light is nevertheless its color. At any rate it happens that the seeing of fire comes about by nothing else than light, just as the seeing of all other bodies comes about by the visible appearance of body. [section 10] Black color happens to arise when air and water are thoroughly burned through by fire; that is why all things that are burning turn black, as wood and coals do once the fire is quenched, and as the smoke from a pot does, when the moisture present in the pot is separated out and burned. [section 11] That is also why the blackest smoke is that from fatty and oily things, such as olive oil and pitch and pinewood, because these burn most and produce a continuous flame. These things also turn black wherever water flows through them, whenever, after first growing moss, the moisture then dries out, as with the plaster on walls. [section 12] Likewise too with stones lying underwater; for these too, once they have grown moss, later become black in color when they dry out. These, then, are the simple colors, and this is their number.
4| [section 1] The other colors, arising from these by blending and by degree of more and less, produce many varied impressions of color. By more and less, as with crimson and purple; by blending, as with white and black, when mixed they produce the impression of gray. That is why black, when shaded, mixed with light becomes crimson. [section 2] For we observe that black, mixed with the light of the sun and with the light from fire, always becomes crimson, and that all black things, when set on fire, change in color to crimson; for smoky flames and coals, when they are thoroughly burned through, appear to have a crimson color. [section 3] Purple becomes bright-flowering and brilliant, whenever weak rays of the sun are blended with a moderate white and shaded color. That is why around sunrise and sunset the air sometimes appears purple-like, when the sun is near rising or setting; for the rays, being weak at that time, strike most against air that is shaded. [section 4] The sea too appears purple-like, whenever the waves, being raised up, are shaded by their slant; for the weak rays of the sun striking against their slant make the color appear purple. This is also observed to happen with feathers; for stretched somehow toward the light, they have a purple color.
5| [section 5] When less light strikes, it becomes murky, which they call gloomy; but when much is blended with the primary black, it becomes crimson. Being bright-flowering and gleaming, it changes into a flame-like color. For one must understand it in this way with respect to the blending of colors with one another, forming the mixture out of a color already observed as the underlying one, and not treating the coming-to-be of all of them as alike. [section 6] For among colors there are some not simple, yet each bears the same relation to some one of the compound colors that the simple colors bear to themselves, because the simple colors belong to a mixture of one thing, and it is not easy to signify in the whole, and it produces its effect similarly when considered further. [section 7] For when speaking of the blending that makes purple or crimson, one must likewise describe the coming-to-be for those colors mixed from these and producing a different color, and not create a similar impression. [section 8] For this reason one must take and consider the blending on the basis of what has already been established, namely that the wine-dark color arises whenever bluish-gray rays are blended with unmixed black that gleams, as with the berries of grape-clusters; for the color of these too appears wine-dark as they ripen; for as they turn black, the crimson changes into purple.
6| [section 9] One must, in the manner shown, consider all the differences of colors, taking the resemblance from motion according to the very appearance, likening the blending present in each, and bringing conviction to bear on the particular cases where an impression arises in some process of coming-to-be and blending. [section 10] And one must carry out the study of all these not as painters do, mixing these colors together, but by combining with one another the reflected rays proceeding from the things mentioned; for in this way one could best observe the blendings of colors according to nature. [section 11] The proofs and similar evidence must be sought in those cases where the coming-to-be of the colors will be evident. These are chiefly the light from the sun and that from fire, and air and water; for these, blended by more and less, produce, one might say, practically all the colors. [section 12] One must also grasp the resemblance from the other colors as they are blended with the rays; for coals and smoke and verdigris and sulfur and feathers, blended some with the rays of the sun, others with those of fire, produce many varied changes of color. And some things must also be examined through ripening, as they occur in plants and fruits and hair and feathers and all such things.
7| [section 1] We must not overlook the many forms and the endless variety of colors, or through how many causes they come about. We will find that it happens either because light and shadows are taken in unequally and unevenly — for shadows and light differ greatly among themselves in more and less — so that both by themselves and mixed together with colors they produce changes of color; or because the things being blended differ in quantity and in power; or because they stand in ratios that are not the same. [section 2] For purple has many differences, and crimson, and white, and each of the others as well, both in more and less and in their mixture with one another and in their purity. And it makes a difference too whether the thing blended is bright or gleaming, or on the contrary dull and lusterless. [section 3] Now gleaming is nothing other than a continuity and density of light. For a golden appearance arises when yellow, sun-like color, having been strongly compressed, gleams. That is why the necks of doves and drops of water appear golden, the light being reflected back.
8| [section 4] There are things which, when smoothed by rubbing and by certain powers, take on other and varied hues, as silver does when rubbed, and gold, and bronze, and iron. [section 5] And certain kinds of stones produce different colors, as also . . . for being black they draw white lines, because the original composition of all such things is out of small, dense, black particles, but since, in their formation, all the pores through which the dye has passed have been colored by this dyeing, they have come to present a different appearance of color. [section 6] But what is rubbed off from them no longer becomes golden-looking, or bronze-looking, or bears any other such hue, but is altogether black, because the pores through which the dye has passed are broken open when they are rubbed, and are by nature the same throughout. [section 7] For since the former color is no longer visible to us because the dye has been torn apart, we see the color that belongs to them by nature — which is why they all appear black. But when each of these is rubbed smooth and even, as against a touchstone, they lose that black and take back their color again, in the joining and continuity, the color of the dye showing through.
9| [section 8] Among things that are burned or dissolved or melted in fire, those have the most colors whose smoke is fine and airy and whose colors are shadowy, as the smoke from sulfur and from corroding bronze vessels, and those that are dense and smooth, as silver. [section 9] Among other things, those have shadowy colors that also share in smoothness, as water and clouds and the plumage of birds; for these too, through their smoothness and through the rays that fall on them, blending now this way, now that, produce differing colors, as darkness also does. [section 10] We see none of the colors pure as it truly is, but all blended with others; for even if with nothing else, they appear altered and not as they are when blended with the rays of light and with shadows. [section 11] That is why things viewed in shadow and in light and in sunlight, and in a harsh or a soft ray, and lying at one slant or another, and according to other differences too, appear different. And so with light near fire and near the moon, and the light of lamps — which is why the light of each of these has a different hue.
10| [section 12] And also through the mixture of colors with one another; for as they pass through one another they are colored. For when light, falling upon certain things, is colored by them and becomes crimson or grass-green, and the reflected light then falls upon some other color, it is blended by that in turn and takes on some other combination of color. [section 13] And this happens continuously, though at times imperceptibly, reaching our sight blended out of many colors, but producing the sensation of some one color that most prevails. That is why things seen through water appear more water-colored, and things in mirrors have colors like those of the mirrors. And the same must be thought to happen with the air. [section 14] So that all hues are mixtures of three things: the light, and that through which the light appears — for instance water and air — and third, the underlying colors from which the light happens to be reflected back. [section 15] White and transparent, when very rarefied, appears air-colored in hue; but in all dense things a kind of mist appears over them, as in water and glass and air when it is thick. For since the rays fail on every side because of the density, we cannot see clearly into the things within.
11| [section 16] The air, when viewed close up, appears to have no color at all — for through its rarity it is overmastered by the rays, being separated off by them as they are denser and shine through it — but when it is viewed in depth, it appears in color closest to blue-black, on account of its rarity. [section 17] For where light is lacking, there, being interrupted by darkness, it appears blue-black. But when it is condensed, like water too, it is the whitest of all things. [section 1] Everything that is dyed takes its color from the things that dye it. Many things are dyed with growing flowers, many with roots, many with bark or wood or leaves or fruit. Further, many with earth, many with scum, and many too with soot from lamp-black. Some are dyed with the juices of animals, as purple is with the murex. [section 2] Some are dyed with wine, some with smoke, some with lime, some with sea water — as the hair of sea creatures, for all of these turn reddish from the sea. And this holds in general for whatever has its own distinctive color. [section 3] For always, from all of these, together with the moisture and heat, the colors pass into the pores of the things being dyed, and when the dye dries out, it takes on the colors from those things. That is why it is often washed out of them, the flowers running out from the pores.
12| [section 4] Astringent substances too produce many differences and combinations in dyeing, and so do the states of the things being dyed, as has been said before about blending. Black wool is also dyed, but it does not come out equally bright in color, because while their pores are dyed as the flowers enter into them, the intervening spaces of the hair take no dye at all. [section 5] These, being white and lying side by side with the colors, make all the flowers appear brighter; the black spaces, on the contrary, appear shadowy and dark. That is why what is called dusky-purple becomes more richly flowered than either black or white; for its flower appears less diluted in this way, being blended with the rays of the black. [section 6] For by itself the intervening space between the pores is not seen, on account of its smallness — just as tin blended with bronze is not seen, nor anything else of that kind. And the colors of dyed things are altered through the causes stated. [section 1] That hair, and plumage, and flowers, and fruits, and all plants undergo all their changes of color together with their ripening, is clear from many instances; but what the starting points of color are for each of the things that grow, and what changes they undergo from what, and through what causes they undergo them, and whatever other difficulties happen to attend these matters — all this must be examined on the basis of such considerations.
13| [section 2] In all plants, then, the starting point of the colors is the grass-green. For shoots and leaves and fruits are all grass-green at the start. One can see this also in rainwater: wherever the water stands for a longer time, as it dries out again it becomes grass-green in color. [section 3] And it is reasonable that this should be the first of the colors to form in everything that grows. For all waters, left standing for a time, at first become yellow, being mixed with the sun's rays, but little by little, growing black, mixing again with the yellow, they become grass-green. [section 4] For moisture, as has been said, aging by itself and drying out, turns black, just as the plaster linings in cisterns do. Of these, whichever are always under water become entirely black, because the moisture in them, being kept cool, does not dry out by itself; but whatever is pumped out and exposed to the sun becomes grass-green, because the yellow is mixed with the black. [section 5] So the more the moisture turns black, the more the grass-green becomes strongly saturated and leek-colored. That is why the old shoots of everything are far blacker than the young ones; the younger ones are more yellow, because the moisture in them has not yet turned black.
14| [section 6] For as their growth becomes slower, and the moisture remains in them for a long time, because moisture that is strongly chilled turns black, the color becomes leek-colored, mixed with pure black. [section 7] In whatever cases the moisture does not mix with the sun's rays, their color remains white, unless in time it dries out and turns black first. That is why the parts above ground of everything that grows are at first grass-green, while the parts below ground, stalks and roots, are white. [section 8] And shoots, while under the earth, are white; but once the earth is removed, at the very start, as has been said, they all become grass-green, because the moisture that filters through the shoots into them has this very nature of color, and is quickly used up in the growth of the fruits. But when they no longer grow, because the heat can no longer master the nourishment flowing in, but on the contrary the moisture is broken down by the heat. [section 9] And when all the fruits ripen, and the moisture present in them is concocted together by the heat of both the sun and the air, each takes on the colors proper to it from the plant, just as with flowers that are dyed.
15| [section 10] That is why they take on color little by little, and especially those turned toward the sun and its warmth. So their colors, in every case, change together with the seasons. This is evident: for all those of grass-green color, once they ripen, change into the color that belongs to them by nature. [section 11] For indeed they become white and black and gray and yellow and blackish and shadow-colored and crimson and wine-colored and saffron-colored, taking on almost all the differences among colors. [section 12] Since most colors arise from several being mixed together, it is clear that the colors in plants too must have these same mixtures; for the moisture, filtering through them, and washing itself out together with them, takes on all the powers of the colors. [section 13] And as this moisture is concocted together during the ripening of the fruits by the heat of both the sun and the air, each of the colors forms on its own, some faster, some slower, just as happens also with the dyeing of purple. [section 14]
16| For with this too, whenever they cut it and wash out from it all the moisture, and pour this in and boil it in pots, at first nothing at all is visible in the dye among the colors, because as each of them, with the moisture, is boiled together little by little, and the colors still present in them mix with one another, they take on many varied differences; for black and white and dusky and sky-colored, all of these too appear then, once boiled together, so that because of the mixture none of the other colors is any longer visible by itself. [section 15] The very same thing happens with fruits too. For in many of them, because all the concoctions of color do not occur at the same time, but some form earlier and some later, they change from one color into another, just as grapes and dates do. [section 16] For some of these at first become crimson, but as the black forms within, they change again into wine-color; and finally they become dark-blue, once the crimson too is mixed with a great deal of pure black. [section 17] For the colors that come on later, whenever they master the earlier ones, alter the earlier colors. This is especially evident in black fruits; for nearly all of them, as has been said, at the beginning change from grass-green, become slightly crimson, and turn tawny, but they quickly shift again away from the tawny, because of the pure black present in things of this kind.
17| [section 18] This is shown by the fact that the twigs and the tendrils and the leaves of all such plants are black, because this color is present in them in the greatest amount; since it is clear that the black fruits share in both colors, for the juice of all such fruits becomes wine-colored. And in their coming to be, the crimson colors precede the black ones. [section 19] This is shown by the fact that the ground under dripping water, and generally wherever a moderate outflow of water happens to occur in shady places, changes everywhere first from grass-green into a crimson color, and the ground becomes as if blood had just been freshly spilled at that spot, at the point where the grass-green color receives its concoction; and finally this too becomes strongly black and dark-blue. [section 20] The same thing happens with fruits as well. And that when later colors form, whenever they master the earlier ones, the color of the fruits changes, is easy to see through cases like these. [section 21] For the fruit of the pomegranate and the leaves of roses at first become white, but finally, once the juices within them are colored by the concoction, they take on color, and change again into the color of purple and crimson.
18| [section 22] Some plants have even more colors than these upon them, as with the sap of the poppy and the dregs of the olive; for this too at first becomes white, just like the fruit of the pomegranate, and having turned white, changes again into a crimson color, and finally, mixed with a great deal of black, becomes dark-blue. [section 23] That is why the leaves of the poppy are crimson at the top, because their concoction there happens quickly, but black near the base, since this color already prevails in them there, just as with the fruit; for that too finally becomes black. [section 24] In whatever plants there is only one color, white or black or crimson or purple, in all of these the fruits always keep the same nature of color once they have changed, one time only, out of grass-green into another color. [section 25] In some cases the flowers happen to be the same color as the fruits, as with the pomegranate: for its fruit becomes crimson, and so does its flower. But in others the color differs greatly, as with the laurel and the ivy; for the flower of both of these is in every case yellow, while the fruit is black in some, crimson in others.
19| [section 26] The same holds for the apple tree too: its blossom is white tinged with purple, but its fruit is yellow. The poppy's blossom is crimson, but its fruit is in one case black, in another white, because the ripening of the juices present in them occurs at different times. [section 27] This is easy to see from many cases: some fruits, as has been said, take on many differences together with their ripening. That is why quite different scents and juices turn out to accompany blossoms and fruits. [section 28] This is even more evident in the blossoms themselves: of the same petal, one part is black and another crimson, and in some cases one part is white and another purple-like. This is no less evident in the iris: this flower too has many varied colors in it, owing to differences in ripening, just as grape-clusters do, when they happen to be already ripening. [section 29] That is why in all flowers the tips ripen most, while the parts near the base become much paler in color. For in some cases the moisture is, so to speak, burned out before it can undergo its proper ripening.
20| [section 30] That is why flowers remain constant in color, while fruits change as they ripen: flowers, because of the small amount of nourishment in them, are quickly ripened through, while fruits, because of the abundance of moisture in them, pass through all their natural colors together with their ripening. This is evident, as has been said before, also in dyed blossoms. [section 31] At first, when dyers dip the fleeces in as they dye with purple, they turn dusky, black, and gray-blue; but once the color has been thoroughly boiled down, it becomes a rich, brilliant sea-purple. [section 32] So it necessarily follows that many blossoms likewise differ from fruits in color, some going beyond and some falling short of their natural colors, because in some cases the ripening is incomplete and in others complete. [section 33] Blossoms and fruits, then, turn out to differ from each other in color for these causes. The leaves of most trees become yellow in the end, because, as the nourishment gives out, they are dried up before they can change into their natural color — since, in fact, some fruits that fall off also become yellow in color, because in these too the nourishment gives out before their ripening is complete.
21| [section 34] The same holds too for grain and for all growing plants: these also turn yellow in the end. For the moisture in them, no longer able to turn black because it dries up quickly, produces the change of color. [section 35] For the moisture, turning black and mixed with green, becomes, as has been said, grass-green; and as the black continually grows weaker, the color changes back little by little into green, and in the end becomes yellow — since, indeed, the leaves of the pear and of the andrachne (strawberry tree) and of certain others become crimson as they ripen. [section 36] Except that whichever of these also dry up quickly become yellow, because in them the nourishment gives out before ripening is complete. The differences among plants, then, most plausibly turn out to occur for the causes stated. [section 1] Hair and feathers and hides — of horses and cattle and sheep and human beings and all the other animals — also become white, gray, tawny, and black through the same cause: white, when the moisture is dried up by the ripening while it still has its own color; black, on the contrary, when, in their generation, the moisture around the skin, as in all other cases, turns black through growing old and taking a long time, on account of its quantity. For in all such creatures both the flesh-color and the hides become black.
22| [section 2] They are gray, tawny, yellow, and have the other colors whenever the moisture dries up before it can completely change into the black color. And in whatever creatures this happens unevenly, the colors likewise turn out mottled. [section 3] That is why everything follows the skin and its color as well, since in reddish people the hair also becomes reddish-white, and in dark people it becomes black; and if vitiligo breaks out over some part of the body, everyone gets white hair in that spot too, just as with mottled animals. [section 4] In this way all hair and feathers follow the skin, both part by part and over the whole body. Hooves, cloven hooves, beaks, and horns behave in the same way as these: they too become black in black animals and white in white ones, because in all these cases as well the nourishment is filtered through the skin into the outer covering. [section 5] That this is the cause is not hard to see from many instances. For the heads of all infants are at first reddish, because of the scantiness of the nourishment. This is evident: for all infants at first grow hair that is weak, sparse, and short.
23| [section 6] As they grow older, the hairs turn black again as they take on color, because of the abundance of nourishment now flowing in. The same holds for the pubic hair and the beard: when people first begin to reach puberty and grow a beard, these hairs too are at first quickly reddish, because the small amount of moisture in them dries up; but as more nourishment is carried to that region, they turn black again. [section 7] The hairs on the body remain reddish for the longest time, because of the lack of nourishment there, since at whatever time they do grow, they too turn out to blacken in the same way as the pubic hair and the hair of the head. This is evident: for hairs that have length are, for the most part, blacker near the body and yellower at the tips. [section 8] This is so of the hairs of sheep, horses, and human beings, because very little nourishment is carried to these parts, and it dries up quickly. And in dark-feathered birds too, the feathers are blackest of all nearest the body and yellower at their tips. [section 9] It is the same way, too, with the feathers around the neck, and in general with whatever receives little nourishment. This is clear: for before they turn gray, all hairs change and become reddish, because once again the nourishment gives out and they dry up quickly.
24| [section 10] In the end they become white, before the moisture can turn black, since the nourishment in them is being ripened through too quickly. This is most evident in beasts of burden: in all of them the hair turns white. For since these regions are not able to draw in nourishment as well, because of the weakness of the heat, the moisture, drying up quickly, becomes white. [section 11] The hair around the temples goes gray more than anywhere else, and in general the hair over the weak and worn-out regions. That is why, above all other colors, it is into this color that a thing changes, whenever it departs from its own proper nature. [section 12] Indeed, a hare has before now turned white, and a deer and a bear have at times appeared black; and quail, partridge, and swallow have done the same. For whenever such creatures are weak at birth, all of them, because of the scantiness of nourishment, are ripened through before their proper time and become white. [section 13] In this way children too sometimes have white hair on their heads, eyelids, and eyebrows right from birth, just as, in every other creature, this same affliction clearly comes upon each of them toward old age, through weakness and scantiness [of nourishment]. [section 14]
25| This is why most animals that are white turn out weaker than the black ones; for before their growth is complete, they become white through being concocted on account of the scantiness of their nourishment, just as with fruits that happen to be diseased — for these too are concocted much more on account of weakness. [section 15] But animals that become white while differing greatly from the rest — horses and dogs, for instance — all such animals change from their natural color to white because of good nourishment. For in these, the moisture, not lingering but being used up for growth, does not become black. [section 16] For most such animals are moist and well-fleshed because of good nourishment. That is also why white hair-coats do not change color. This is evident: black hair, before turning gray, first becomes tawny, once its nourishment is already running short and is being concocted more, and finally becomes white. [section 17] Yet some suppose that all things become black because their nourishment is burned up by heat, just as blood and each of the other fluids are — and in this they are mistaken. For some animals in fact become black right from the start, such as dogs, goats, and cattle, and in general all those whose skins and hair-coats have nourishment at the outset, and less of it as their age advances.
26| [section 18] And yet that ought not to be so; rather, in every case the hair should become black at the peak of life, at the time when their heat is strongest, and all of them should turn gray earlier, right at the start. For in every case the heat is far weaker at the very first than it is at the time when their hair-coats begin to turn white. [section 19] This is evident also in white-coated animals. For some of these get the whitest color right at the start — namely those which have the most nourishment at the outset among them, and in which the moisture is not dried up before its season; but as their age advances they turn tawny, since less nourishment flows into them later on. [section 20] Others become tawny at the start but whitest at the peak of life, just as with birds too, whose colors change again once their nourishment runs short in them. This is shown by the fact that all of them become tawny about the neck as well, and in general wherever nourishment is scarce and running short in them. [section 21] This is clear: just as tawny changes into black and black in turn into tawny, so too white changes into yellow. This happens also in plants; for some, from the later stage of concoction, run back again to the earlier one. This is especially evident in the case of the pomegranate.
27| [section 22] For at the start the seeds, and the leaves too, become crimson, because their nourishment is scanty and gets concocted; later they change again into a grass-green color, once much nourishment is flowing in and the concoction is no longer able to master it in the same way; and finally, when the nourishment is by now being concocted, the color again becomes crimson. [section 23] To put it generally, the same holds for other hair-coats and plumages as well: all of them undergo these changes — in some cases, as has been said, because their nourishment is running short in them, in others, on the contrary, because it is in excess. [section 24] This is why different hair-coats become whitest and blackest at different times of life, since even the plumage of ravens eventually changes into a tawny color, once their nourishment is running short in them. [section 25] But no hair-coat ever becomes crimson, or sea-purple, or green, or takes on any other such color, because all such colors come about only when the sun's rays are mixed in with them, whereas in all hair-coats the changes of the moisture occur inside the flesh, and they receive no such mixing. [section 26]
28| This is clear: none of the plumage is of that sort right from the start; rather, even the mottled birds are, so to speak, all black at first — the peacock, the dove, and the swallow, for instance. Later they take on all such variegated colors, once their concoction is already occurring outside the body, in the feathers and the plumes themselves; so that it turns out, just as with plants, that in these creatures too the concoction of colors occurs outside the body. [section 27] This is also why the remaining animals — aquatic creatures, reptiles, and shelled creatures — have color-forms of every kind, since much concoction occurs in them as well. From what has been said, then, one could best grasp the theory concerning colors.